Network of Community Ministries reports rising service demand and expanded programs to Richardson council

At Monday’s Richardson City Council meeting, Abby Kaufman, president and CEO of Network of Community Ministries, outlined a year of service expansion and rising demand for basic-needs programs.

Kaufman said Network served 29,673 individuals last fiscal year — roughly 5,100 households — and documented a 14.5% increase in services per person even as households served fell by about 6.5% compared with the prior year. "When people come to Network for the first time, that is not a good day," Kaufman said, framing the nonprofit’s mission of providing dignified, coaching-based stabilization services.

Kaufman highlighted food distribution as the largest-volume effort: she reported the network distributed more than 3.6 million pounds of food last fiscal year and said that, as of February 2025, staff had distributed roughly 3.3 million pounds so far this fiscal year and were on track to surpass last year’s total. The organization’s mobile market served additional households and distributed nearly 200,000 meals in the most recent fiscal year, an increase the presenter said was about 35% over the prior year.

Network described a multi-pronged approach: a food pantry and mobile market, a large clothing closet (more than 10,500 individuals used the clothing closet last fiscal year), stabilization coaching, mental-health services (two therapists added, a contract psychiatrist joined in March 2024) and employment and education supports (including the Pat Doherty Memorial Fund for continuing education). Kaufman said Network distributed approximately $181,000 in housing assistance last fiscal year, which helped nearly 1,000 people remain housed, and that the organization’s client-management systems were upgraded to improve appointments and inventory tracking.

Kaufman also described programs for seniors (a weekly senior program with growing attendance), an all-volunteer handyman program that completed 287 jobs and in-home grocery deliveries for homebound seniors, and volunteer engagement (hundreds of volunteers contributing thousands of hours). Board chair Marta Gomez Frye thanked the council and emphasized volunteers and donations.

Council members thanked Network and asked about potential program expansion. Kaufman said the immediate focus is capacity and quality improvements—improving appointment systems, stabilizing operations and expanding staffing for high-demand programs (for example, seniors’ services) rather than adding new pillars. She outlined a stakeholder model for funding in which formal stakeholder partners provide two of four categories—financial, in-kind, referral or volunteers—and noted Network is not heavily reliant on federal funding except where passed through emergency programs.

The council did not vote on any measures related to the presentation; members expressed appreciation and support.